Increasing flowrate

[Oceans Ferevh]

Hi folks, I have a new problem I resently installed my sump with an OM squirt. My return pump is a Little Gient rated at 950 gph, and my overflow box is a LifeReef rated at 700 gph. My prob is that my overflow box cannot bring water into the sump fast enough to speed up the return to the degree I need. The water is returning too slow through the OM squirt and not producing the flow I want in my display. I have a ballvalve going to my return pump and it is currently barely open, so I am not using nearly as much of the pump's power as is possible. I was thinking that maybe the exit going from the overflow box is not large enough. It is 1". Would things speed up if I replaced the 1" bulkhead with a 1 1/2" bulkhead in the overflow?

 

[Anonymous]

I have the same problem on a closed loop. I have a Blueline HD40 (790 GPH) and I dont get allot of flow through the Squirt. I think it has to do with the 1 and a 1/4 opened ports at a time.
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San Antonio X-Factor

 

[Oceans Ferevh]

I'm not so sure about the ports being a problem. When I open up the return pump the water goes like mad. I just cannot get the water to go fast enough through the overflow box. It fills up when the return pump is going too fast and the sump start to drain low.

 

[dubbin1]

Sounds like you are in need of a bigger overflow like a duel box.

 

[Oceans Ferevh]

I just bought this one I was hoping that there was something I could do to fix it.

 

[Anonymous]

Where the hose connects to the overflow box, is there some sort of push on fitting there? Sometimes that is a restriction and getting a larger one and installing larger hose will work.

You could also make the hole bigger, install a bigger bulkhead, and install larger hose. I am not sure that wouldn't just show you that the actual overflow is too small though.

Like going from one problem to another...

 

[Anonymous]

I have the same problem on a closed loop. I have a Blueline HD40 (790 GPH) and I dont get allot of flow through the Squirt. I think it has to do with the 1 and a 1/4 opened ports at a time.

That's odd. I have the same pump on a squirt and I am happy with the flow I am getting. If you need mre velosity put a 3/4 to 1/2 reducer in the line that will speed things up. If you can do it as a reducing elbow as the last fitting that would be best.

 

[Oceans Ferevh]

It's not the squirt or the pump that is a problem. I just cannot get the overflow box to deliver water fast enough to keep up with the pump!

I'm so frustrated because I'm barely utilizing the abilities of of my pump and squirt They're GREAT products and I want to really open them up and rip some water around.

 

[Oceans Ferevh]

My overflow box has a 1" bulkhead that is then adapted to connect to a 1" vinal hose. The hose shoots directly into my sump with no detour. It's SUPPOSED to deliver 700gph max. Sgould I increase the bulkhead diameter, decrease the vinal hose size, or do something else? Which should I try first? This is really frustrating me.

 

[Oceans Ferevh]

I actually have the 3/4" fittings reduced to 1/2" at the elbow right before the water enters the tank. It then enters some Loc-Line tubing for direction before spraying into the tank.

 

[Anonymous]

What I did on my tank to increase the flow is I took the adapter that goes from the bulkhead to the vinyl hose out and then I bought hose that would fit over the coupling coming out of the bulkhead. That increased the flow rate some because it made the actual bulkhead the smallest point in the drain.

If that does not work, then you will have to replace the bulkhead with a bigger one which means enlarging the hole in the overflow that the bulkhead is in. That will also allow flow to increase.

If this is a pre bought overflow, I have a feeling that increasing the bulkhead too much will just show that the overflow will not handle that much water and then you are back to square one.

post a pic, and have fun playing with it.

 

[Anonymous]

If you go to 1" PVC you will get a bigger ID. Also you can increase the drain pipe to 1.25 or 1.5 if you want to and the bulkhead would be the smallest part of the system. I would try changeing the hose to a bigger hose or PVC before modifying the overflow.

 

[polcat]

I agree with knuclehead, you are probally going to find the overflow itself is not big enough. A 1" drain will handle 600gph no problem. Easy enough to test...take the internal box off and see if the u-tube and drain can then keep up.. Also remove the perfilter if it has one.